Parking assistance apparatus and vehicle having the same

ABSTRACT

A parking assistance apparatus includes a first sensor configured to sense a first environment corresponding to a first distance around a vehicle; a second sensor configured to sense a second environment corresponding to a second distance around the vehicle that is greater than the first distance; and a display configured to display a graphic image. The parking assistance apparatus also includes at least one processor configured to: acquire first information regarding the first environment around the vehicle and second information regarding the second environment around the vehicle; detect an available parking space based on the first information and based on the second information; and based on an available parking space being detected outside of the first environment, control the display to display information regarding the available parking space.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of an earlier filing date andright of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0074112,filed on Jun. 14, 2016, the content of which is herein incorporated byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a parking assistance apparatusprovided in a vehicle, and a vehicle having the same.

BACKGROUND

A vehicle is an apparatus that transports a user riding therein in adesired direction. A representative example of a vehicle is anautomobile.

A vehicle typically includes a power source, such as an internalcombustion engine vehicle, an external combustion engine vehicle, a gasturbine vehicle, an electric vehicle, etc. according to a type of motorused.

An electric vehicle typically utilizes an electric motor using electricenergy and includes a pure electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle(HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), a fuel cell electricvehicle (FCEV), etc.

Recently, intelligent vehicles have been actively developed for safetyor convenience of a driver or pedestrian.

An intelligent vehicle is an advanced vehicle implementing informationtechnology (IT) and is sometimes referred to as a “smart vehicle.” Someintelligent vehicles provide improved traffic efficiency by implementingan advanced vehicle system and via association with an intelligenttraffic system (ITS).

In addition, research into sensors mounted in such an intelligentvehicle has been actively conducted. Such sensors typically include, forexample, a camera, an infrared sensor, a radar, a global positioningsystem (GPS), a Lidar, or a gyroscope. In particular, a camera is oftenan important sensor playing the role of human eyes.

SUMMARY

Implementations described herein provide a parking assistance apparatusthat utilizes both long-range and short-range sensors to automaticallydetect an available parking space. The parking assistance apparatus maydetermine whether the parking space is in a short-distance environmentor a long-distance environment around the vehicle, and display parkinginformation accordingly.

Implementations may also provide a vehicle having the above-describedparking assistance apparatus.

In one aspect, a parking assistance apparatus may include a first sensorconfigured to sense a first environment corresponding to a firstdistance around a vehicle; a second sensor configured to sense a secondenvironment corresponding to a second distance around the vehicle, thesecond distance being greater than the first distance; and a displayconfigured to display a graphic image. The parking assistance apparatusmay also include at least one processor configured to: acquire firstinformation regarding the first environment around the vehicle andsecond information regarding the second environment around the vehiclefrom the respective first sensor and the second sensor; detect anavailable parking space based on the first information and based on thesecond information; and, based on an available parking space beingdetected outside of the first environment, control the display todisplay information regarding the available parking space.

In some implementations, the parking assistance apparatus may furtherinclude a monitoring unit configured to monitor a driver. The at leastone processor may further be configured to: detect a physical motion ofthe driver indicating an intent to park the vehicle; and based ondetecting the physical motion of the driver indicating the intent topark the vehicle and based on the vehicle travelling at a predeterminedspeed or less for a predetermined time or more, control the display topropose executing a parking assistance mode.

In some implementations, the second sensor may include at least one of ablind spot detection sensor configured to sense a quadrangular area at aside rear of the vehicle or a stereo camera configured to photograph afront or rear area of the vehicle and configured to sense a distance toan object. The first sensor may include an around-view monitoring cameraconfigured to photograph surroundings of the vehicle.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: based on an empty space having a predetermined size ormore being detected outside of the first environment, determine theempty space as the available parking space.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: based on a second vehicle being detected as exiting aspace, determine, as the available parking space, the space from whichthe second vehicle exits.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: based on a second vehicle being detected as performing anexiting operation, determine a position of the second vehicle as theavailable parking space. The second vehicle that is detected asperforming the exiting operation may be a vehicle that indicates a stateof at least one of a vehicle in which a second driver is riding, avehicle in which a brake lamp is turned on, or a vehicle from which anengine starting sound is generated.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: calculate a size of the second vehicle; compare the sizeof the second vehicle with a size of the vehicle; and based on comparingthe size of the second vehicle with the size of the vehicle, determinewhether the vehicle is to be parked.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: determine a parking standby position around the detectedavailable parking space; control the vehicle to move to the parkingstandby position while the second vehicle is exiting the space; andcontrol the vehicle to be on standby at the parking standby positionuntil a time at which the second vehicle completes exiting the space.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: based on a first parking space being detected at a firstside of the vehicle and a second parking space being detected at asecond side of the vehicle, scan the first parking space at the firstside of the vehicle through the first sensor, and scan the secondparking space at the second side of the vehicle through the secondsensor.

In some implementations, the first sensor may include an image sensor,the second sensor may include a distance-measuring sensor, and the atleast one processor may further be configured to: detect the availableparking space through the image sensor; and based on an obstacle in theavailable parking space being detected through the distance-measuringsensor, determine that the available parking space is inappropriate forparking.

In some implementations, the first sensor may include an image sensor,the second sensor may include a distance measuring sensor, and the atleast one processor may further be configured to: based on a parkingrestriction sign being detected in the available parking space throughthe image sensor after the available parking space is detected throughthe distance measuring sensor, determine that the available parkingspace is inappropriate for parking.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: based on the available parking space being detected,provide, through the display, a graphic user interface (GUI) forperforming parking in the available parking space.

In some implementations, providing, through the display, the graphicuser interface (GUI) for performing parking in the available parkingspace may include displaying an image at a time when the availableparking space is to be viewed and displaying a graphic image designatingthe available parking space.

In some implementations, providing, through the display, the graphicuser interface (GUI) for performing parking in the available parkingspace may include displaying a scroll GUI for displaying short-distanceimages that were previously photographed according to a user scrollinput.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to: generate a virtual map by synthesizing informationregarding environments that were previously detected around the vehicle;and control the display to display the virtual map and a graphic imagerepresenting the available parking space on the virtual map.

In some implementations, the display may include a windshield displayconfigured to display graphic images on a windshield of the vehicle. Thewindshield display may be configured to display an augmented realityview that designates the available parking space.

In some implementations, the first sensor may include an around-viewmonitoring camera configured to photograph surroundings of the vehicle.The at least one processor may further be configured to: based on adetection that the available parking space is photographed by thearound-view monitoring camera, control the display to display an imageof a view around the vehicle.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may further beconfigured to, based on a plurality of available parking spaces beingdetected: evaluate the plurality of available parking spaces through atleast one criteria; and automatically set one of the plurality ofavailable parking spaces as a target parking space based on anevaluation of the plurality of available parking spaces through the atleast one criteria.

In some implementations, the at least one processor may configured be tocontrol the display to display a graphic image for guiding the vehicleto travel to the available parking space.

In another aspect, a vehicle may include the parking assistanceapparatus according to one or more of the implementations describedabove.

All or part of the features described throughout this disclosure may beimplemented as a computer program product including instructions thatare stored on one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media,and that are executable on one or more processing devices. All or partof the features described throughout this disclosure may be implementedas an apparatus, method, or electronic system that may include one ormore processing devices and memory to store executable instructions toimplement the stated functions.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will beapparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an outer appearance of avehicle having a parking assistance apparatus according to animplementation;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a parkingassistance apparatus according to an implementation;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of sensors of a vehiclehaving the parking assistance apparatus according to someimplementations;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a front stereo cameraaccording to some implementations;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating examples of generating imageinformation in an image of the front stereo camera according to someimplementations;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an inner appearance ofthe vehicle having the parking assistance apparatus according to someimplementations;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a parking assistanceapparatus providing a parking assistance function according to someimplementations;

FIGS. 9A to 9C are diagrams illustrating examples of a situation inwhich the parking assistance function is automatically executedaccording to some implementations;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of detecting along-distance available parking space according to some implementations;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a situation in which along-distance available parking space is detected according to someimplementations;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating another example of a situation inwhich the long-distance available parking space is detected according tosome implementations;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating still another example of a situationin which the long-distance available parking space is detected accordingto some implementations;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating still another example of a situationin which the long-distance available parking space is detected accordingto some implementations;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating still another example of a situationin which the long-distance available parking space is detected accordingto some implementations;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen in astate in which a long-distance available parking space is detectedaccording to some implementations;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating another example of the display screenin a state in which the long-distance available parking space isdetected according to some implementations;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating still another example of the displayscreen when the long-distance available parking space is detectedaccording to some implementations;

FIGS. 19A and 19B are diagrams illustrating still another examples ofthe display screen when the long-distance available parking space isdetected according to some implementations;

FIG. 20A is a diagram illustrating an example of a process in which avehicle is automatically parked in a long-distance available parkingspace according to some implementations;

FIG. 20B is a diagram illustrating an example of a rear of the vehiclebeing parked the long-distance available parking space according to someimplementations;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which anavailable parking space is detected using a plurality of sensorsaccording to some implementations;

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of another state in whichthe available parking space is detected using the plurality of sensorsaccording to some implementations;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screendisplaying a space detected using the plurality of sensors according tosome implementations;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which leftand right available parking spaces of the vehicle are detected using theplurality of sensors according to some implementations;

FIGS. 25 to 27 are diagrams illustrating examples of a display screenwhen a long-distance available parking space is detected according tosome implementations;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which atarget parking space is corrected during automatic parking according tosome implementations;

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an example of a change in displayscreen when the target parking space is corrected during the automaticparking according to some implementations;

FIGS. 30A and 30B are diagrams illustrating examples of comparing statesin which routes are differently designed as sizes of target parkingspaces are different from each other; and

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of internal components ofthe vehicle of FIG. 1, which has the above-described parking assistanceapparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Implementations described herein provide a parking assistance apparatusfor a vehicle that utilizes both long-range and short-range sensors toautomatically detect an available parking space around the vehicle.

In some scenarios, a vehicle may implement a parking assistance functionthat assists a driver and improves driving safety and convenience. Forexample, a vehicle may include parking assistance technology forautomatically performing one or more parking functions of a vehicle,thereby assisting a driver with difficult parking situations.

An example of parking assistance technology is technology for detectingparking lines using a camera and performing parking of a vehicle in aparking space detected through the parking lines. Here, a general camerasystem for detecting a parking space may include an around-viewmonitoring (AVM) system for photographing directions around a vehicleand/or may include a rear camera system.

However, in some scenarios, an AVM system or a rear camera system mayhave a limited photographing area, and therefore may not be able todetect an available parking space located at a long distance from thevehicle. Therefore, a driver should directly detect an available parkingspace, drive a vehicle up to an area in which the available parkingspace is photographed, and then execute a parking assistance function,which cannot be referred to as automatic parking in the true sense ofthe word.

In addition, a parking assistance apparatus may be limited by otherdifficulties. For example, it may be difficult to detect an availableparking space in a situation where a parking line cannot be detected.Furthermore, an available parking space may fail to be detected insituations where another vehicle is being taken out or being ready to betaken out from the parking space.

Also, in scenarios where an available parking space is detected usingonly an image-based sensor, the available parking space may be limitedto being two-dimensionally detected. Hence, when a three-dimensionalobstacle exists, the available parking space may fail to be detected.

Furthermore, when an available parking space is detected using only adistance-based sensor, there may be difficult in detecting parkinglines, parking signs such as a “no parking” sign, or other relevantenvironmental features relevant to the parking space.

Implementations are described herein that enable a parking assistanceapparatus for a vehicle that detects an available parking space usingboth a long-distance sensor and a short-distance sensor, therebyproviding improved assistance for parking of the vehicle.

In some implementations, the parking assistance apparatus maydistinguish between a short-distance environment and a long-distanceenvironment around the vehicle. The parking assistance apparatus maydetect that a parking space is available outside of the short-distanceenvironment, and may display information regarding the parking spacethat is located outside the short-distance environment. As such, theparking assistance apparatus may better assist a driver in locating anavailable parking space at various locations around the vehicle.

A vehicle as described in this disclosure may include, for example, acar or a motorcycle, or any suitable motorized vehicle. Hereinafter, acar will be described as an example.

A vehicle as described in this disclosure may be powered by any suitablepower source, and may be, for example, an internal combustion enginevehicle including an engine as a power source, a hybrid vehicleincluding both an engine and an electric motor as a power source, and/oran electric vehicle including an electric motor as a power source.

In the following description, the left of a vehicle refers to theleft-hand side of the vehicle in the direction of travel and the rightof the vehicle refers to the right-hand side of the vehicle in thedirection of travel.

In the following description, a left hand drive (LHD) vehicle will bedescribed unless otherwise stated, although implementations are notlimited to such and may also be implemented in right hand drivevehicles.

In the following description, the parking assistance apparatus providedin a vehicle may be implemented as a separate apparatus mounted in thevehicle or may include one or more components that are part of thevehicle. The parking assistance apparatus provided in a vehicle mayexchange information for data communication with the vehicle and performa parking assistance function. A set of at least some components of thevehicle may be implemented as part of the parking assistance apparatus.

In scenarios where the parking assistance apparatus is separatelyprovided, at least some components of the parking assistance apparatus,such as one or more components in FIG. 2, may be components of thevehicle or components of another apparatus mounted in the vehicle. Suchexternal units may transmit and receive data via an interface of theparking assistance apparatus and thus may be understood as beingincluded in the parking assistance apparatus.

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the parking assistanceapparatus will be described according to some implementations thatdirectly include the components shown in FIG. 2, althoughimplementations are not limited to such, as described above.

Hereinafter, a parking assistance apparatus according to someimplementations will be described in detail with reference to thedrawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a vehicle 700 according to an implementation mayinclude wheels 13FL and 13RL rotated by a power source and a parkingassistance apparatus providing a user with a parking assistancefunction.

The parking assistance apparatus according to some implementations mayprovide a parking assistance function of detecting an available parkingspace by sensing one or more environments around the vehicle, providinga user with information on the detected available parking space, and, ifthe user selects the available parking space, parking the vehicle in theselected target parking space by performing an automatic parkingoperation.

In some implementations, the parking assistance apparatus acquiresinformation on a short-distance environment around the vehicle using ashort-distance sensor, thereby searching what will be referred to as a“short-distance available parking space.” In addition, the parkingassistance apparatus acquires information on a long-distance environmentaround the vehicle using a long-distance sensor, thereby searching whatwill be referred to as a “long-distance available parking space.” Thus,in such implementations, the parking assistance apparatus may morequickly and effectively detect an available parking space in a widersearch area around the vehicle.

The short-distance environment and the long-distance environment may bedesignated according to various criteria. For example, a reference fordistinguishing between a long-distance environment and a short-distanceenvironment may be a limit range around the vehicle, which theshort-distance sensor can sense, or a boundary at which the informationon the short-distance environment, acquired by the short-distancesensor, is displayed. In such scenarios, if the short-distance sensorsenses an available parking space within a predetermined radius aroundthe vehicle, then an area within the predetermined radius may bedesignated as a short-distance environment, and an area outside thepredetermined radius may be designated as a long-distance environment.However, implementations are not limited thereto, as the short-distanceenvironment may be designated as any suitable environment that is closerto the vehicle than the long-distance environment.

In some implementations, the short-distance sensor may be an around-viewmonitoring (AVM) system for photographing an environment around thevehicle. In such implementations, an environment around the vehicle thatis photographed by an AVM camera may be designated as a short-distanceenvironment, and an environment outside of a photographing area of theAVM camera may be designated as a long-distance environment. As such, ifan AVM image is displayed on a display, then the image displayed on thedisplay may be limited to the short-distance environment.

Further, the parking assistance apparatus may detect multipleenvironments at different distances using one or more sensors. Forexample, the parking assistance apparatus may include both ashort-distance sensor based on image sensing and a long-distance sensorbased on space sensing, thereby more accurately providing a user withinformation regarding an available parking space.

Also, the parking assistance apparatus may provide a graphic userinterface for effectively displaying, to the user, information ondetected long-distance/short-distance available parking spaces, andeasily setting the parking assistance function.

In some implementations, the parking assistance apparatus may determinea route such that automatic parking is safely performed in a selectedlong-distance target parking space and may perform an automaticoperation for following the route. In such implementations, the parkingassistance apparatus may thereby provide a parking assistance functionof safely and quickly performing automatic parking in a desired space.

Hereinafter, examples of components constituting such a parkingassistance apparatus will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.2 to 7.

Referring to FIG. 2, the parking assistance apparatus 100 according tosome implementations may include an input unit 110, a communication unit120, an interface 130, a memory 140, a sensor unit 155 including along-distance sensor and a short-distance sensor, at least one processor170, a display unit 180, an audio output unit 185, a monitoring unit195, and a power supply 190. However, units of the parking assistanceapparatus 100 are not essential to implement the parking assistanceapparatus 100. Therefore, the parking assistance apparatus 100 describedin this specification may have components of which number is greater orless than that of the described-above components.

Each component will now be described in more detail. The parkingassistance apparatus 100 may include the input unit 110 for receivinguser input.

For example, a user may input, through the input unit 110, a setting forthe parking assistance function provided by the parking assistanceapparatus 100, execution of turning on/off power of the parkingassistance apparatus 100, or the like.

In an implementation, the input unit 110 may receive an input forallowing the user to select an available parking space and to set theselected available parking space as a target parking space.

The input unit 110 may include at least one of a gesture input unit(e.g., an optical sensor, etc.) for sensing a user gesture, a touchinput unit (e.g., a touch sensor, a touch key, a push key (mechanicalkey), etc.) for sensing touch and a microphone for sensing voice inputand receive user input.

Next, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may include the communicationunit 120 for communicating with another vehicle 510, a terminal 600 anda server 500.

In an implementation, the communication unit 120 may receive informationon a long-distance available parking space from a parking lot managementserver 510 or another vehicle around the vehicle. That is, if theparking lot management server 500 or the other vehicle 510, whichpreviously acquired information on an empty available parking space in aparking lot, transmits information on an available parking space to thecommunication unit 120 of the vehicle 700, the communication unit 120may receive the information on the available parking space, therebypreviously detecting the long-distance available parking space.

Also, the communication unit 120 may transmit information on a targetparking space and a parking route to the other vehicle 510 around thevehicle 700, so that the other vehicle 510 does not interfere withparking of the vehicle 700.

The parking assistance apparatus 100 may receive communicationinformation including at least one of navigation information, drivinginformation of another vehicle and traffic information via thecommunication unit 120. In contrast, the parking assistance apparatus100 may transmit information on this vehicle via the communication unit120.

In detail, the communication unit 120 may receive at least one ofposition information, weather information and road traffic conditioninformation (e.g., transport protocol experts group (TPEG), etc.) fromthe mobile terminal 600 and/or the server 500.

The communication unit 120 may receive traffic information from theserver 500 having an intelligent traffic system (ITS). Here, the trafficinformation may include traffic signal information, lane information,vehicle surrounding information or position information.

In addition, the communication unit 120 may receive navigationinformation from the server 500 and/or the mobile terminal 600. Here,the navigation information may include at least one of map informationrelated to vehicle driving, lane information, vehicle positioninformation, set destination information and route information accordingto the destination.

For example, the communication unit 120 may receive the real-timeposition of the vehicle as the navigation information. In detail, thecommunication unit 120 may include a global positioning system (GPS)module and/or a Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) module and acquire theposition of the vehicle.

In addition, the communication unit 120 may receive driving informationof the other vehicle 510 from the other vehicle 510 and transmitinformation on this vehicle, thereby sharing driving information betweenvehicles. Here, the shared driving information may include vehicletraveling direction information, position information, vehicle speedinformation, acceleration information, moving route information,forward/reverse information, adjacent vehicle information and turnsignal information.

In addition, when a user rides in the vehicle, the mobile terminal 600of the user and the parking assistance apparatus 100 may pair with eachother automatically or by executing a user application.

The communication unit 120 may exchange data with the other vehicle 510,the mobile terminal 600 or the server 500 in a wireless manner.

In detail, the communication module 120 may perform wirelesscommunication using a wireless data communication method. As thewireless data communication method, technical standards or communicationmethods for mobile communications (for example, Global System for MobileCommunication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), CDMA2000(Code Division Multiple Access 2000), EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized),Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), HSUPA(High Speed Uplink Packet Access), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A(Long Term Evolution-Advanced), and the like) may be used.

The communication unit module 120 is configured to facilitate wirelessInternet technology. Examples of such wireless Internet technologyinclude Wireless LAN (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct,Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), Wireless Broadband (WiBro),Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), High SpeedDownlink Packet Access (HSDPA), HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access),Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A (Long Term Evolution-Advanced), and thelike.

In addition, the communication unit 120 is configured to facilitateshort-range communication. For example, short-range communication may besupported using at least one of Bluetooth™, Radio FrequencyIDentification (RFID), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Ultra-Wideband(UWB), ZigBee, Near Field Communication (NFC), Wireless-Fidelity(Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct, Wireless USB (Wireless Universal Serial Bus), andthe like.

In addition, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may pair with themobile terminal located inside the vehicle using a short-rangecommunication method and wirelessly exchange data with the other vehicle510 or the server 500 using a long-distance wireless communicationmodule of the mobile terminal.

Next, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may include the interface 130for receiving data of the vehicle and transmitting a signal processed orgenerated by the at least one processor 170.

In an implementation, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may transmita vehicle drive control signal for performing automatic parking throughthe interface 130, thereby controlling the vehicle 700 to travel in atarget parking space.

In detail, after an automatic parking route is designed, the parkingassistance apparatus 100 generates a drive control signal for allowingthe vehicle to follow the automatic parking route, and directlytransmits the generated drive control signal to a controller 770 or adrive unit, so that the vehicle can automatically travel. For example,the parking assistance apparatus 100 may generate at least one of asteering control signal for automatically controlling vehicle steering,an accelerator control signal for controlling driving of the powersource of the vehicle, a brake control signal for controlling a brake ofthe vehicle, and a transmission control signal for controlling atransmission of the vehicle, and control various drive units of thevehicle by transmitting the generated control signal through theinterface 130, so that the vehicle 700 can be automatically parked.

In detail, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may receive at least oneof driving information of another vehicle, navigation information andsensor information via the interface 130.

In addition, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may transmit a controlsignal for executing the parking assistance function or informationgenerated by the parking assistance apparatus 100 to the controller 770of the vehicle via the interface 130.

To this end, the interface 130 may perform data communication with atleast one of the controller 770 of the vehicle, anaudio-video-navigation (AVN) apparatus 400 and the sensing unit 760using a wired or wireless communication method.

In detail, the interface 130 may receive navigation information by datacommunication with the controller 770, the AVN apparatus 400 and/or aseparate navigation apparatus.

In addition, the interface 130 may receive sensor information from thecontroller 770 or the sensing unit 760.

Here, the sensor information may include at least one of vehicletraveling direction information, vehicle position information, vehiclespeed information, acceleration information, vehicle tilt information,forward/reverse information, fuel information, information on a distancefrom a preceding/rear vehicle, information on a distance between avehicle and a lane and turn signal information, etc.

The sensor information may be acquired from a heading sensor, a yawsensor, a gyro sensor, a position module, a vehicle forward/reversesensor, a wheel sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, a vehicle tilt sensor, abattery sensor, a fuel sensor, a tire sensor, a steering sensor based onrotation of the steering wheel, a vehicle interior temperature sensor, avehicle interior humidity sensor, a door sensor, etc. The positionmodule may include a GPS module for receiving GPS information.

The interface 130 may receive user input via the user input unit 110 ofthe vehicle. The interface 130 may receive user input from the inputunit of the vehicle or via the controller 770. That is, when the inputunit is provided in the vehicle, user input may be received via theinterface 130.

In addition, the interface 130 may receive traffic information acquiredfrom the server. The server 500 may be located at a traffic controlsurveillance center for controlling traffic. For example, when trafficinformation is received from the server 500 via the communication unit120 of the vehicle, the interface 130 may receive traffic informationfrom the controller 770.

Next, the memory 140 may store a variety of data for overall operationof the parking assistance apparatus 100, such as a program forprocessing or control of the at least one processor 170, which may be acontroller in some implementations.

In addition, the memory 140 may store data and commands for operation ofthe parking assistance apparatus 100 and a plurality of applicationprograms or applications executed in the parking assistance apparatus100. At least some of such application programs may be downloaded froman external server through wireless communication. At least one of suchapplication programs may be installed in the parking assistanceapparatus 100 upon release, in order to provide the basic function(e.g., the parking assistance information guide function) of the parkingassistance apparatus 100.

Such application programs may be stored in the memory 140 and may beexecuted to perform operation (or function) of the parking assistanceapparatus 100 by the processor 170.

The memory 140 may store data for checking an object included in animage. For example, the memory 140 may store data for checking apredetermined object using a predetermined algorithm when thepredetermined object is detected from an image of the vicinity of thevehicle acquired through a long-distance sensor 160, which may be, forexample, a camera.

For example, the memory 140 may store data for checking the object usingthe predetermined algorithm when the predetermined algorithm such as alane, a traffic sign, a two-wheeled vehicle and a pedestrian is includedin an image acquired through the long-distance sensor 160, which may bea camera.

The memory 140 may be implemented in a hardware manner using at leastone selected from among a flash memory, a hard disk, a solid state drive(SSD), a silicon disk drive (SDD), a micro multimedia card, a card typememory (e.g., an SD or XD memory, etc.), a random access memory (RAM), astatic random access memory (SRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), anelectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), aprogrammable read-only memory (PROM), a magnetic memory, a magnetic diskand an optical disc.

In addition, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may operate inassociation with a network storage for performing a storage function ofthe memory 140 over the Internet.

Next, the monitoring unit 195 may acquire information on the internalstate of the vehicle.

Information sensed by the monitoring unit 195 may include at least oneof facial recognition information, fingerprint information, iris-scaninformation, retina-scan information, hand geometry information andvoice recognition information. The motoring unit 195 may include othersensors for sensing such biometric information.

In an implementation, the monitoring unit 195 may be a camera forphotographing a driver. The monitoring unit 195 photographs the driver,and the processor extracts a specific pattern of action of the driver,thereby determining a driver's parking intention. For example, themonitoring unit 195 may detect an action in which the driver looksaround, for example, the driver's head turning, a predetermined numberof times. Based on detecting such a pattern of action by the driver, theprocessor may detect such an action pattern as a driver's parkingintention, thereby automatically executing the parking assistancefunction.

Next, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may further include thesensor unit 155 for a searching available parking space by sensingobjects around the vehicle. The parking assistance apparatus 100 maysense objects around the vehicle through the separate sensor unit 155,and may receive, through the interface 130, sensor information acquiredfrom the sensing unit 760. The acquired sensor information may beincluded in information on environments around the vehicle.

In an implementation, the sensor unit 155 may include a short-distancesensor 150 for sensing a short-distance area around the vehicle and along-distance sensor 160 for sensing a long-distance area around thevehicle. Here, a reference for distinguishing between the long-distancearea and the short-distance area may be a limit range around thevehicle, which the short-distance sensor 150 can sense, and an area outof the limit range may become the long-distance area.

The long-distance sensor 160 and the short-distance sensor 150 mayinclude a distance sensor for sensing positions of objects locatedaround the vehicle and a camera for acquiring images by photographingsurroundings of the vehicle.

First, the distance sensor precisely senses a position of an object fromthe vehicle, a direction in which the object is spaced apart, a distanceat which the object is spaced apart, a direction in which the objectmoves, or the like, thereby acquiring information on an environmentaround the vehicle. The distance sensor continuously measures the sensedposition of the object, thereby accurately sensing a change inpositional relationship between the object and the vehicle.

The distance sensor may sense an object located in an area of at leastone of the front/rear/left/right of the vehicle. To this end, thedistance sensor may be disposed at various positions of the vehicle. Indetail, the distance sensor may be disposed at a position of at leastone of the front/rear/left/right and ceiling of a body of the vehicle.The distance sensor may include one or more among various distancemeasuring sensors such as a Lidar sensor, a laser sensor, an ultrasonicwaves sensor, and a stereo camera.

For example, the distance sensor may accurately measure, as a lasersensor, a positional relationship between the vehicle and the object,using time-of-flight (TOF) and/or phase shift according to a lasersignal modulation method.

Meanwhile, information on an object may be acquired as the processor 170analyzes an image photographed by the camera.

In detail, the parking assistance apparatus 100 photographs surroundingsof the vehicle using the camera, detects objects around the vehicle asthe processor 170 analyzes images of the surroundings of the vehicles,determines attributes of the objects, thereby generating information onenvironments around the vehicle.

Here, image information is information on at least one of the kind of anobject, traffic signal information indicated by the object, a distancebetween the object and the vehicle, and a position of the object, andmay be included in the sensor information.

In detail, the processor 170 performs analysis on an object by detectingthe object from an image photographed through image processing, trackingthe object, and measuring a distance of the object from the vehicle, sothat image information can be generated.

In an implementation, the short-distance sensor 150 may be an aroundview monitoring camera (AVM camera) for searching a short-distance areaby photographing all directions within a predetermined range of thevehicle or/and a parking assistance ultrasonic sensor (PAS ultrasonicsensor) for measuring a distance of an object from the vehicle within apredetermined range around the vehicle. Here, the short-distance areamay be defined as an area photographed and displayed by the AVM camera.

In detail, the AVM camera as the short-distance sensor 150 may beprovided in plurality at various positions.

Referring to FIG. 3, each of AVM cameras 150 a, 150 b, 150 c, 150 d, and150 e is disposed at a position of at least one of thefront/rear/left/right and ceiling of the vehicle, to photograph adirection of the position at which each AVM camera is disposed, therebyscanning a short-distance area SA.

In detail, a left camera 150 b may be disposed in a case surrounding aleft side mirror. Alternatively, the left camera 150 b may be disposedat the outside of the case surrounding the left side mirror.Alternatively, the left camera 150 b may be disposed in one area at theoutside of a left front door, a left rear door, or a left fender.

A right camera 150 c may be disposed in a case surrounding a right sidemirror. Alternatively, the right camera 150 c may be disposed at theoutside of the case surrounding the right side mirror. Alternatively,the right camera 150 c may be disposed in one area at the outside of aright front door, a right rear door, or a right fender.

A rear camera 150 d may be disposed near a rear number plate or a trunkswitch. A front camera 150 a may be disposed near an emblem or aradiator grill.

A ceiling camera 150 e may be disposed on the ceiling of the vehicle tophotographs all of the front/rear/left/right directions of the vehicle.

Meanwhile, the processor 170 may synthesize images photographed in alldirections, thereby providing an around view image obtained by viewingthe vehicle from its top. When the around view image is generated,boundary portions occurs between areas of the images. Blendingprocessing is performed on the boundary portions, so that the boundaryportions can be naturally displayed.

Therefore, in an implementation, the short-distance area SA may be anarea displayed as an around view image.

In some implementations, the long-distance sensor 160 may include atleast one of a front stereo camera 160 a, a rear stereo camera 160 b,and blind spot detection sensors 165 a and 165 b, which acquireinformation on environments of a long-distance area LA.

In detail, the long-distance sensor 160 may be the front stereo camera160 a that acquires an image by photographing the front of the vehicleand, simultaneously, measures a distance from an object in thephotographed image. That is, the front stereo camera 160 a may acquireinformation on an environment of a front long-distance area LA1 of thevehicle 700.

Through information on a long-distance environment around the vehicle,acquired by the front stereo camera 160 a, the processor 170 may providea driving assistance function of at least one of a lane keeping assistsystem (LKAS), a lane departure warning system (LDWS), an adaptivecruise control (ACC) system, a traffic sign recognition (TSR) system,and a high beam assistance (HBA) system.

Also, the processor 170 may detect a long-distance available parkingspace from information on a long-distance environment around thevehicle, acquired by the front stereo camera 160 a.

That is, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may provide along-distance parking assistance function using the front stereo camera160 a that provides the existing driving assistance function.

The long-distance sensor 160 may be the rear stereo camera 160 b thatacquires an image by photographing the rear of the vehicle and,simultaneously, measures a distance from an object in the photographedimage. The rear stereo camera 160 b may acquire information on anenvironment of a rear long-distance area LA2 of the vehicle 700.

Also, the long-distance sensor 160 may be each of the blind spotdetection sensors 165 a and 165 b, which measures a distance from anobject located at the side/rear of the vehicle. Each of the blind spotdetection sensors 165 a and 165 b may acquire information on anenvironment of a side/rear long-distance area LA3 of the vehicle 700.

Each of the blind spot detection sensors 165 a and 165 b may be adistance sensor, and a blind spot detection (BSD) function may beprovided as information on an environment around the vehicle, acquiredby each of the blind spot detection sensors 165 a and 165 b.

That is, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may provide along-distance parking assistance function using the blind spot detectionsensor 165 a and 165 b that provide the existing driving assistancefunction.

In an implementation, the short-distance sensor 150 may be each of theAVM cameras 150 a, 150 b, 150 c, 150 d, and 150 e, and the long-distancesensor 160 may be the front stereo camera 160 a for detecting anavailable parking space in the front long-distance area LA1 or/and eachof the blind spot detection sensors 165 a and 165 b that detects anavailable parking space in the side/rear long distance area LA3.

Hereinafter, the short-distance sensor 150 is each of the AVM cameras150 a, 150 b, 150 c, 150 d, and 150 e, and the long-distance sensor 160is each of the front stereo camera 160 a and the blind spot detectionsensors 165 a and 165 b, but the present disclosure is not limitedthereto.

The parking assistance apparatus 100 may detect a short-distanceavailable parking space using the short-distance sensor 150, detect afront long-distance available parking space using the front stereocamera 160 a, and detect side and rear long-distance available parkingspaces using the blind spot detection sensors 165 a and 165 b.

Also, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may precisely detect anavailable parking space, using the image-based short-distance sensor 150and the long-distance sensor 160 configured to measure a distance.

Meanwhile, each of the cameras of the short-distance sensor 150 and thelong-distance sensor 160 may directly include an image sensor and animage processing module. The camera may process a still image or movingimage obtained by the image sensor (e.g., CMOS or CCD). Also, the imageprocessing module may extract required image information by processingthe still image or moving image obtained by the image sensor, and maytransmit the extract image information to the processor 170.

In order to for the processor 170 to more easily perform objectanalysis, each of the above-described cameras may be a stereo camera forphotographing an image and, simultaneously, measuring a distance from anobject.

Hereinafter, the long-distance sensor 160 and a method of detectinginformation on an environment around the vehicle using the long-distancesensor 160 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

First, referring to FIG. 4, the long-distance sensor 160 may include afirst camera 161 a having a first lens 163 a and a second camera 161 bhaving a second lens 163 b.

Meanwhile, the parking assistance apparatus may further include a firstlight shield 162 a for shielding light incident into the first lens 163a and a second light shield 162 b for shielding light incident into thesecond lens 163 b.

The parking assistance apparatus may acquire stereo images ofsurroundings of the vehicle, perform disparity detection on the basis ofthe stereo images, perform object detection on at least one stereo imageon the basis of at least one stereo image, and continuously track themovement of an object after the object is detected.

Referring to FIG. 5, as an example of an internal block diagram of theprocessor 170, the processor 170 in the parking assistance apparatus 100may include an image preprocessor 410, a disparity calculator 420, anobject detector 434, an object tracking unit 440, and an applicationunit 450. In FIG. 5 and the following description, it is illustratedthat an image is processed in an order of the image preprocessor 410,the disparity calculator 420, the object detector 434, the objecttracking unit 440, and the application unit 450, but the presentdisclosure is not limited thereto.

The image preprocessor 410 may receive images from the camera, therebyperforming preprocessing.

Specifically, the image preprocessor 410 may perform, on the images,noise reduction, rectification, calibration, color enhancement, colorspace conversion (CSC), interpolation, camera gain control, etc.Accordingly, it is possible to acquire images clearer than stereo imagesphotographed by the camera.

The disparity calculator 420 may receive the images signal-processed bythe image preprocessor 410, and perform stereo matching on the receivedimages, thereby acquiring a disparity map according to the stereomatching.

In this case, the stereo matching may be performed in units of pixels ofthe stereo images or in units of predetermined blocks of the stereoimages. Meanwhile, the disparity map may refer to a map representing, asnumerical values, binocular parallax information of stereo images, i.e.,left and right images.

A segmentation unit 432 may perform segmentation and clustering on atleast one of the images, based on disparity information from thedisparity calculator 420.

Specifically, the segmentation unit 432 may separate a background and aforeground with respect to at least one of the stereo images, based onthe disparity information.

As an example, the segmentation unit 432 may calculate, as thebackground, an area in which the disparity information is equal to orsmaller than a predetermined value in the disparity map, and exclude thecorresponding area. Accordingly, the foreground can be relativelyseparated. As another example, the segmentation unit 432 may calculate,as the foreground, an area in which the disparity information is equalto or greater than the predetermined value in the disparity map, andextract the corresponding area. Accordingly, the foreground can beseparated.

As described above, the foreground and the background are separatedbased on the disparity information extracted on the basis of the stereoimages, so that it is possible to reduce a signal processing speed, asignal processing amount, etc. when a subsequent object is detected.

Next, the object detector 434 may detect an object on the basis of animage segment from the segmentation unit 432.

That is, the object detector 434 may detect an object with respect to atleast one of the images, based on the disparity information.

Specifically, the object detector 434 may detect an object with respectto at least one of the images. For example, the object detector 434 maydetect an object from a foreground separated by the image segment.

Next, an object verification unit 436 may classify and verify theseparated object.

To this end, the object verification unit 436 may use an identificationmethod using a neural network, a support vector machine (SVM) method, anAdaBoost identification method using Haar-like features, a histogram oforiented gradients (HOG) method, etc.

Meanwhile, the object verification unit 436 may verify other vehicles,lanes, road surfaces, signs, danger zones, tunnels, etc., which arelocated around the vehicle.

The object tracking unit 440 may perform tracking on the verifiedobject. For example, the object tracking unit 440 may verify objects inthe acquired stereo image, calculate movements or motion vectors of theverified objects, and track a movement, etc. of a corresponding object,based on the calculated movements or motion vectors. Accordingly, it ispossible to track other vehicles, lanes, road surfaces, signs, dangerzones, tunnels, etc., which are located around the vehicle.

Next, the application unit 450 may calculate a risk, etc. of thevehicle, based on various objects, e.g., other vehicles, lanes, roadsurfaces, signs, etc., which are located around the vehicle. Also, theapplication unit 450 may calculate a possibility of collision with avehicle in front, a slip of the vehicle, etc.

In addition, the application unit 450 may output, as vehicle drivingassistance information, a message, etc. for notifying a user of theinformation, based on the calculated risk, possibility of collision, theslip of the vehicle, or the like. Alternatively, the application unit450 may generate, as vehicle control information, a control signal forcontrolling the posture or driving of the vehicle.

Meanwhile, the image preprocessor 410, the disparity calculator 420, thesegmentation unit 432, the object detector 434, the object verificationunit 436, the object tracking unit 440, and the application unit 450 maybe internal components of an image processor (see FIG. 31) in theprocessor 170.

Meanwhile, according to an implementation, the processor 170 may includeonly some of the image preprocessor 410, the disparity calculator 420,the segmentation unit 432, the object detector 434, the objectverification unit 436, the object tracking unit 440, and the applicationunit 450. If the camera is configured as a mono camera or an around viewcamera, the disparity calculator 420 may be excluded. Also, according toan implementation, the segmentation unit 432 may be excluded.

Referring to FIG. 6, the camera may acquire stereo images during a firstframe period.

The disparity calculator 420 receives stereo images FR1 a and FR1 bsignal-processed by the image preprocessor 410, and performs stereomatching on the received stereo images FR1 a and FR1 b, therebyacquiring a disparity map 520.

The disparity map 520 is obtained by levelizing a binocular parallaxbetween the stereo images FR1 a and FR1 b. In the disparity map 520,calculation is performed such that a distance to the vehicle becomescloser as a disparity level becomes larger, and the distance to thevehicle becomes more distant as the disparity level becomes smaller.

Meanwhile, when the disparity map is displayed, the disparity map may bedisplayed such that luminance becomes higher as the disparity levelbecomes larger, and the luminance becomes lower as the disparity levelbecomes smaller.

In this figure, it is illustrated that first to fourth lanes 528 a, 528b, 528 c, and 528 d have corresponding disparity levels in the disparitymap 520, and a construction area 522, a first vehicle 524 in front and asecond vehicle 526 in front have corresponding disparity levels in thedisparity map 520.

The segmentation unit 432, the object detector 434, and the objectverification unit 436 detect segments and objects with respect to atleast one of the stereo images FR1 a and FR1 b, and verify the objects,based on the disparity map 520.

In this figure, it is illustrated that objects are detected and verifiedwith respect to a second stereo image FR1 b, using the disparity map520.

That is, the first to fourth lanes 538 a, 538 b, 538 c, and 538 d, theconstruction area 532, the first vehicle 534 in front, and the secondvehicle 536 in front may be detected and verified in an image 530.

By performing image processing as described above, the parkingassistance apparatus 100 may acquire, using the camera, variousinformation on environments around the vehicle, such as what objectsaround the vehicle are and where the objects are located.

Next, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may further include a displayunit for displaying a graphic image of the parking assistance function.

The display unit 180 may include a plurality of displays.

In detail, the display unit 180 may include a first display 180 a forprojecting and displaying a graphic image onto and on a vehiclewindshield W. That is, the first display 180 a is a head up display(HUD) and may include a projection module for projecting the graphicimage onto the windshield W. The graphic image projected by theprojection module may have predetermined transparency. Accordingly, auser may simultaneously view the front and rear sides of the graphicimage.

The graphic image may overlap the image projected onto the windshield Wto achieve augmented reality (AR).

The display unit may include a second display 180 b separately providedinside the vehicle to display an image of the parking assistancefunction.

In detail, the second display 180 b may be a display of a vehiclenavigation apparatus or a cluster located at an internal front side ofthe vehicle.

The second display 180 b may include at least one selected from among aLiquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Thin Film Transistor LCD (TFT LCD), anOrganic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), a flexible display, a 3D display,and an e-ink display.

The second display 180 b may be combined with a touch input unit toachieve a touchscreen.

Next, the audio output unit 185 may audibly output a message forexplaining the function of the parking assistance apparatus 100 andchecking whether the parking assistance function is performed. That is,the parking assistance apparatus 100 may provide explanation of thefunction of the parking assistance apparatus 100 via visual display ofthe display unit 180 and audio output of the audio output unit 185.

Next, the haptic output unit may output an alarm for the parkingassistance function in a haptic manner. For example, the parkingassistance apparatus 100 may output vibration to the user when a warningis included in at least one of navigation information, trafficinformation, communication information, vehicle state information,advanced parking assistance system (ADAS) function and other parkingconvenience information.

The haptic output unit may provide directional vibration. For example,the haptic output unit may be provided in a steering apparatus forcontrolling steering to output vibration. Left or right vibration may beoutput according to the left and right sides of the steering apparatusto enable directional haptic output.

In addition, the power supply 190 may receive power and supply powernecessary for operation of the components under control of the processor170.

Lastly, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may include the processor170 for controlling overall operation of the units of the parkingassistance apparatus 100.

In addition, the processor 170 may control at least some of thecomponents described with reference to FIG. 3 in order to execute theapplication program. Further, the processor 170 may operate by combiningat least two of the components included in the parking assistanceapparatus 100 es, in order to execute the application program.

The at least one processor 170 may be implemented in a hardware mannerusing at least one selected from among Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital SignalProcessing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), controllers, microcontrollers,microprocessors, and electric units for the implementation of otherfunctions.

The processor 170 may be controlled by the controller or may controlvarious functions of the vehicle through the controller.

The processor 170 may control overall operation of the parkingassistance apparatus 100 in addition to operation related to theapplication programs stored in the memory 140. The processor 170 mayprocess signals, data, information, etc. via the above-describedcomponents or execute the application programs stored in the memory 140to provide appropriate information or functions to the user.

Hereinafter, the parking assistance function provided by the parkingassistance apparatus 100 including the above-described components willnow be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 8 to 25.

Referring to FIG. 8, first, if a user's parking intention is detected,the parking assistance apparatus 100 may be activated to execute aparking assistance mode (S101).

In detail, if an input for executing the parking assistance function isreceived from the input unit 110, the processor 170 may execute theparking assistance function.

Also, the processor 170 may automatically execute the parking assistancemode by detecting the user's parking intention.

In detail, FIG. 9A, if it is detected from navigation information thatthe vehicle has entered within a predetermined radius R of a destination11, the processor 170 may automatically execute the parking assistancefunction by considering that the user has a parking intention.

Referring to FIG. 9B, if a sign 12 representing a parking lot in animage photographed by the front stereo camera 160 a is recognized, theprocessor 170 may automatically execute the parking assistance functionby considering that the user has a parking intention.

Referring to FIG. 9C, if a monitoring unit detects, from an imageobtained by photographing the driver 13, the driver's parking intentionsuch as detecting an action in which a driver looks around and,simultaneously, the vehicle travels at a predetermined speed or less fora certain time or more, the processor 170 may automatically execute theparking assistance function by considering that the user has a parkingintention.

That is, the parking assistance apparatus 100 according to someimplementations executes the parking assistance mode by detecting inadvance the user's parking intention, so that it is possible to provideconvenience to the user.

If the parking assistance mode is executed, the processor 170 maycontrol the display unit 180 to display an around view image that isinformation on a short-distance environment around the vehicle.

Referring back to FIG. 8, if the parking assistance mode is executed,the processor 170 may search an available parking space using the sensorunit 155 (S102).

In detail, the processor 170 acquires information on a short-distanceenvironment around the vehicle using the short-distance sensor 150, anddetects a short-distance available parking space from the information onthe short-distance environment around the vehicle (S103).

In an implementation, the short-distance sensor 150 may detect ashort-distance available parking space in a manner that detects an emptyspace with a predetermined size or more from the around view image. Morespecifically, the processor 170 may detect parking lines from the aroundview image, and, if any object except a road surface (background)defined by the parking lines is not detected, detect the road surface asthe available parking space.

If the short-distance available parking space is detected, the processor170 may control the display unit 180 to display information on theshort-distance available parking space (S104).

In detail, the processor 170 may display an around view image on thedisplay unit 180, and further display a graphic image representing theshort-distance available parking space on the around view image.

Meanwhile, the processor 170 may search an available parking space in along-distance area LA while searching an available parking space in ashort-distance area SA (S105).

Hereinafter, a method of detecting a long-distance available parkingspace in the long-distance area LA will be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 10 to 15.

Referring to FIG. 10, the processor 170 may search a long-distanceavailable parking space from information on a long-distance environmentaround the vehicle, which is acquired by the long-distance sensor 160(S201).

In detail, the processor 170 may detect an empty space having apredetermined size or more in a long-distance area LA, thereby detectinga long-distance available parking space (S202).

In detail, referring to FIG. 11, the processor 170 may acquire a frontimage through the front stereo camera 160 a and measure a distance to anobject included in the front image, thereby acquiring information on along-distance environment around the vehicle.

In addition, if an empty space having a predetermined size or more isdetected in an area defined by parking lanes or/and an area in whichother vehicles are parked, the processor 170 may determine the detectedempty space as a long-distance available parking space S.

In this case, the processor 170 may acquire, through an around viewimage, information on the area defined by the parking lines or the areain which the other vehicles are parked.

That is, the processor 170 may acquire information on an availableparking area on the basis on information on a short-distance environmentaround the vehicle, and analyze the information on the long-distanceenvironment around the vehicle on the basis of the acquired information,thereby detecting the long-distance available parking space S.

Referring to FIG. 12, if another vehicle 510 being taken out is detectedfrom the information on the long-distance environment around thevehicle, the processor 170 may determine, as the long-distance availableparking space S, a position of the other vehicle 510 before it is takenout (S203).

In detail, if another vehicle 510 being taken out of an availableparking area is detected from an image of the front stereo camera 160,the processor 170 may detect, as the long-distance available parkingspace S, the available parking area of which the other vehicle 510 istaken out.

In more detail, the processor 170 may detect another vehicle 510 takenout of an area defined by parking lines or/and an area in which othervehicles 510 are parked, thereby detecting the long-distance availableparking space S.

Referring to FIG. 13, if another vehicle 510 to be taken out is detectedfrom the information on the long-distance environment around thevehicle, the processor 170 may determine a position of the other vehicle510 as the long-distance available parking space S (S204).

In detail, if another vehicle 510 showing a state of at least one ofanother vehicle 510 in which a person is riding, another vehicle 510 inwhich a brake lamp L is turned on, and another vehicle 510 in which anengine starting sound B is generated is detected from an image of thefront stereo camera 160 a, the processor 170 may determine the othervehicle in this state as another vehicle 510 to be taken out, and detecta position of the other vehicle 510 to be taken out as the long-distanceavailable parking space S.

Meanwhile, if another vehicle 510 being taken out or another vehicle 510to be taken out is detected, the processor 170 may calculate a size ofthe other vehicle 510 and compare the size of the other vehicle 510 withthat of the vehicle 700, thereby determining whether the vehicle 700 isto be parked (S205).

In detail, if the size of the other vehicle 510 being taken out or theother vehicle 510 to be taken out is equal to or greater than apredetermined size, the processor 170 may determine a parking positionof the corresponding vehicle 510 as the long-distance available parkingspace S.

The processor 170 may detect a long-distance parking space S in a siderear area LA from information on long-distance environments around thevehicle, which are acquired by the blind spot detection sensors 165 aand 165 b.

In detail, the processor 170 may detect the long-distance availableparking space S in the side rear long distance area LA in a manner thatdetects an empty space having a predetermined size or more, i.e., atleast one of another vehicle 510 being taken out and another vehicle 510to be taken out, from information on side rear long-distanceenvironments around the vehicle, which are acquired by the blind spotdetection sensors 165 a and 165 b.

Referring to FIG. 14, if another vehicle 510 being taken out of anavailable parking area is detected through the blind spot detectionsensors 165 a and 165 b, the processor 170 may detect, as thelong-distance available parking space S, a position of the availableparking area of which the other vehicle 510 is taken out.

In more detail, the processor 170 may detect another vehicle 510 takenout of an area defined by parking lines or/and an area in which othervehicles 510 are parked, thereby detecting the long-distance availableparking space S.

Meanwhile, the processor 170 may store, as a profile, information on ashort-distance environment around the vehicle, acquired using theshort-distance sensor 150, and detect a long-distance available parkingspace S through the stored profile.

In detail, referring to FIG. 15, the processor 170 may storephotographed information on a short-distance environment around thevehicle. In some implementations, the photographed information mayinclude continuously-photographed information. Also, the processor 170may store information on a short-distance available parking space, whichis detected from the photographed information. If an available parkingspace detected from information on the short-distance environment arounda vehicle 700 a as the vehicle 700 a travels is out of a short-distancearea SA of a current vehicle 700 b, the processor 170 may detect along-distance available parking space S in a manner that sets anavailable parking space out of the short-distance area SA as thelong-distance available parking space S.

As described above, the parking assistance apparatus 100 according tosome implementations may detect, in various manners, the long-distanceavailable parking space S located in the long-distance area LA (S206).

Referring back to FIG. 8, if any long-distance available parking space Sis not detected, the processor 170 may control the display unit 180 tomaintain the display of the around view image (S106).

If a long-distance available parking space S is detected, the processor170 may control the display unit 180 to display information on thedetected long-distance available parking space S (S107).

That is, if the long-distance available parking space S is detected, theprocessor 170 may control the display unit 180 to display a graphic userinterface (GUI) for performing automatic parking on the long-distanceavailable parking space S.

In detail, the processor 170 may provide the GUI in a manner thatdisplays an image at a point of time when the long-distance availableparking space S can be viewed and a graphic image designating thelong-distance available parking space.

Referring to FIG. 16, the second display 180 b of the display unit 180is divided into a first display area 181 and a second display area 182,and a front image representing a long-distance available parking space Smay be displayed on the first display area 181. In this case, at leastone of a navigation image 20 guiding a route up to a position of thelong-distance available parking space S, a target designating image 21displaying the position of the long-distance available parking space S,and a taking-out vehicle display image 22 highlighting another vehicle510 being taken out may be further displayed in the front image.

Also, an around view image may be displayed on the second display area182.

The display unit 180 includes the first display unit 180 a fordisplaying graphic images on the windshield of the vehicle, and thewindshield display 180 a may display an augmented reality graphic imagedesignating an available parking space.

Referring to FIG. 18, the first display unit 180 a may provideinformation on the long-distance available parking space S, bydisplaying, on the windshield, at least one of a navigation imageguiding a route up to a position of the long-distance available parkingspace S, a target designating image 21 displaying the position of thelong-distance available parking space S, and a taking-out vehicledisplay image 22 highlighting another vehicle 510 being taken out.

Meanwhile, when the long-distance available parking space S is detectedfrom the information on the short-distance environment, stored as theprofile, the processor 170 may provide a scroll GUI for displayingshort-distance images that were photographed in the past according to auser scroll input.

In detail, referring to FIG. 19A, a screen of the display unit 180 isdivided into a first display area 181 and a second display area 182. Apast around view image may be displayed on the first display area 181,and a current around view image may be displayed on the second displayarea 182. In this case, an image of a scroll input unit configured tochange a point of time of the past around view image may be furtherdisplayed on the screen of the display unit 180, and a user may changethe past around view image displayed on the screen of the display unit180 through the scroll input unit.

Referring to FIG. 19B, a screen of the display unit 180 is divided intoa first display area 181 and a second display area 182. A birds-eye viewimage configured to display a long-distance available parking space Smay be displayed on the first display area 181, and an around view imagemay be displayed on the second display area 182.

In detail, the processor 170 may control the display unit 180 to createa virtual map by synthesizing information on previous environmentsaround the vehicle and to display a birds-eye view image by adding, tothe virtual map, a graphic image representing an available parking spaceon the virtual map.

Alternatively, the processor 170 may control the display unit 180 toreceive a parking lot map through the communication unit 120 and todisplay a birds-eye view image by adding, to the received map, a graphicimage representing an available parking space on the received map.

As described above, the parking assistance apparatus 100 can effectivelyprovide the user with information on short-distance/long-distanceavailable parking spaces detected through the above-described variousgraphic user interfaces. Also, the parking assistance apparatus 100 canassist the user to easily set the parking assistance function.

Meanwhile, if it is detected that the detected long-distance availableparking space S has been located in the short-distance area SA as thevehicle moves, the processor may non-activate the display of theinformation on the long-distance environment around the vehicle, displayan around view image, and then display information on an availableparking space in the around view image (S108 and S109).

Meanwhile, the processor 170 may receive, through the input unit 110, aninput notifying that the user is to perform automatic parking on thelong-distance available parking space S (S110).

That is, the user may set the long-distance available parking space S asa target parking space by touching the target designating image 21 ofthe long-distance available parking space S. If such a setting input isreceived, the processor 170 may perform the automatic parking on theselected long-distance available parking space S.

Meanwhile, if a plurality of available parking spaces are detected, theprocessor 170 may evaluate the available parking spaces through at leastone criteria and automatically set one of the plurality of availableparking spaces as the target parking space based on the at least onecriteria.

For example, the processor 170 may automatically determine, as thetarget parking space, an available parking space located at the shortestdistance from the entrance of a destination. Alternatively, theprocessor 170 may automatically determine, as the target parking space,an available parking space located at the shortest distance from theposition of a current vehicle.

If the target parking space is set, the processor 170 may first design aroute for performing parking on the long-distance available parkingspace S.

If the long-distance available parking space S is detected throughanother vehicle being taken out or another vehicle 510 to be taken out,the processor 170 may design such that a parking standby position isincluded in the route (S111).

Referring to FIG. 20A, the processor 170 may determine a parking standbyposition X around the detected available parking space, control thevehicle 700 to move at the parking standby position X while anothervehicle 510 is being taken out, and control the vehicle 700 to stop atthe parking standby position X until a point of time when the taking-outof the other vehicle 510 is completed. In this case, the parking standbyposition X may be selected as a position that is closest to the targetparking space while not interfering with the taking-out of the othervehicle 510.

Meanwhile, the processor 170 may control the vehicle 700 to notify theoutside that the vehicle 700 is being parked, while automatic parking isbeing performed on the target parking space. In detail, the processor170 may transmit, through the communication unit 120, a signal notifyingother vehicles located around the vehicle 700 that the vehicle 700 isbeing parked. Referring to FIG. 20B, the processor 170 may controldisplay unit 180 to display an image A representing “PARKING” on a rearwindshield W of the vehicle 700, thereby notifying other vehicles thatthe vehicle 700 is being parked.

Finally, the processor 170 may perform automatic parking for allowingthe vehicle 700 to move into the target parking space (S112).

As described above, the parking assistance apparatus 100 can detect anavailable parking space in a long-distance area LA out of ashort-distance area SA. Also, the parking assistance apparatus 100 canprovide information on the detected long-distance/short-distanceavailable parking spaces through an effective graphic user interface.Also, when a long-distance available parking space is selected, theparking assistance apparatus 100 enables the vehicle 700 to performautomatic parking on the long-distance available parking space S.

The parking assistance apparatus 100 can more accurately and quicklydetect an available parking space by simultaneously using theshort-distance sensor 150 and the long-distance sensor 160.

In detail, when the short-distance sensor 150 is an image sensor and thelong-distance sensor 160 is a distance measuring sensor, the processor170 can more accurately determine an available parking space bysimultaneously using image information and distance information.

Referring to FIG. 21, if an obstacle 01 in an available parking spaceS20 is detected through a distance measuring sensor 165 c even when aspace between parking lines, in which no another vehicle 510 is located,is detected as an available parking space S10 through image informationof an image sensor 150 b, the processor 170 may determine the availableparking space S10 as a parking impossible space. In detail, if the areaS10 between the parking lines, in which no another vehicle 510 islocated, is detected from an around view image, the processor 170 maydetermine the area S10 as an available parking space. However, if theobstacle 01 having a predetermined size or more is detected in theavailable parking space 20 through distance measurement information, theprocessor 170 may determine the available parking space S10 as a parkingimpossible space.

That is, since the image information is 2D information and the distancemeasurement information is 3D information, the processor 170 can moreaccurately determine an available parking space by simultaneously usingthe image information and the distance measurement information.

In this case, the processor 170 may control the display unit 180 tofurther display information on the area determined as the parkingimpossible space.

In detail, referring to FIG. 22, a screen of the display unit 180 isdivided into a first display area 181 and a second display area 182. Animage at a point of time when an obstacle that causes the determinationof a parking impossible space is displayed may be displayed on the firstdisplay area 181, and an around view image may be displayed on thesecond display area 182. The display of a graphic image representing anavailable parking space may be deleted at the position of the parkingimpossible space.

On the contrary, referring to FIG. 23, if an available parking space isdetected through the distance measuring sensor 165 c, and a parkingrestriction sign 02 is then detected in the available parking spacethrough the image sensor 150 b, the processor 170 may determine theavailable parking space as a parking impossible space. In detail, if anempty space having a predetermined size or more is detected from thedistance information, the processor 170 may determine the detected spaceas an available parking space. However, if the parking restriction sign20 such as a disabled available parking sign, a women available parkingsign, or a residential available parking sign is detected from the imageinformation, the processor 170 may determine the available parking spaceas a parking impossible space.

Meanwhile, if parking spaces exist at both sides of the vehicle, theparking assistance apparatus 100 may search an available parking spaceat one side of the vehicle through the short-distance sensor 150 andsearch an available parking space at the other side of the vehiclethrough the long-distance sensor 160.

In detail, the processor 170 may detect that parking spaces are locatedat both sides in the advancing direction of the vehicle 700 andcalculate whether the width between both the parking spaces is equal toor greater than a predetermined width. That is, the processor 170 maydetermine that both the parking spaces cannot be simultaneously measuredthrough the short-distance sensor 150. For example, the processor 170may determine that left and right parking spaces cannot besimultaneously displayed in an around view image because the widthbetween both the parking spaces is equal to or greater than apredetermined length related to the width of a short-distance area SA.

If both the sides of the vehicle cannot be detected through theshort-distance sensor 150, the processor 170 may scan an availableparking space at one side of the vehicle through the short-distancesensor 150 and scan an available parking space at the other side of thevehicle through the long-distance sensor 160.

Referring to FIG. 24, an available parking space may be searched in aleft parking area LS using the short-distance sensor 150, and anavailable parking space may be searched in a right parking area RS usingthe long-distance sensor 160. In this case, the processor 170 maycontrol the vehicle 700 to travel closer to a left side at which theshort-distance sensor measures than a right side at which thelong-distance sensor 160 measures.

That is, the processor 170 may control the AVM cameras 150 a, 150 b, 150c, and 150 d to detect an available parking space in the left parkingarea LS, and control the blind spot detection sensors 165 a and 165 b todetect an available parking space in the right parking area RS.

Hereinafter, the GUI provided in the parking assistance apparatus 100will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 25 to 29.

First, if a long-distance available parking space S is detected, theparking assistance apparatus 100 may display a GUI providing informationon the long-distance available parking space S.

Referring to FIG. 25, a screen of the display unit 180 is divided into afirst display area 181 and a second display area 182. Information that along-distance available parking space S has been detected may bedisplayed on the first display area 181, and an around view image may bedisplayed on the second display area 182. That is, if a long-distanceavailable parking space S is detected, the display unit 180 may display,as a popup, information that the long-distance available parking space Shas been detected.

In this case, a navigation image 20 guiding a position of thelong-distance available parking space S is further displayed in thearound vie image, to guide the position of the long-distance availableparking space S to the user.

Referring to FIG. 26, the display unit 180 displays an image at a pointof time when a long-distance available parking space S is detected, andmay further display at least one of a navigation image 20 guiding aroute up to a position of the long-distance available parking space S, atarget designating image 21 displaying the position of the long-distanceavailable parking space S, and a taking-out vehicle display image 22highlighting another vehicle 510 being taken out.

Referring to FIG. 27, the display unit 180 may provide information on along-distance available parking space by displaying, on the windshielddisplay 180 a, at least one of a navigation image 20 guiding a route upto a position of the long-distance available parking space S, a targetdesignating image 21 displaying the position of the long-distanceavailable parking space S, and a taking-out vehicle display image 22highlighting another vehicle 510 being taken out.

Meanwhile, as the location relationship between the vehicle and a targetparking space is changed due to movement of the vehicle, the processor170 may change the position of the target designating image 21 in thearound view image.

In detail, referring to FIG. 28, when the distance between the vehicleand a target parking space is distant, the processor 170 may calculatean accurate position of the target parking space as a first position S1that is not accurate. However, as the vehicle gradually comes close tothe target parking space, the processor 170 may detect the position ofthe target parking space as a second position S2 that is accurate.

Thus, the processor 170 can continuously scan the position of the targetparking space using the short-distance sensor 150 and the long distancesensor 160, and continuously correct the position of an image displayingthe target parking space on the display unit 180.

Referring to FIG. 29, the display unit 180 may display a targetdesignating image 21 a at a position of an around view image, matched toan initial first position. Then, as the position of a target parkingspace is corrected, the display 180 may a target designating image 21 bat a position of the around view image, matched to a corrected secondposition.

Meanwhile, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may provide a shoulderparking mode in which it automatically performs shoulder parallelparking in which an inexperienced driver has difficulty.

If the shoulder parking mode is executed, the processor 170 may detectsituations around roads and lanes using an image sensor, therebysearching a parking direction and an available parking space. Forexample, when a shoulder parking line is a white solid line, theprocessor 170 may determine that shoulder parking is possible. Inaddition, when the shoulder parking line is a yellow double solid line,the processor 170 may determine that the shoulder parking is impossible.

If it is determined that the shoulder parking is possible, the processor170 may search a target parking space. At this time, the shoulderparking mode is different from the existing parking assistance mode innot that an available parking space selected among searched availableparking spaces is set to the target parking space but that an availableparking space that can be detected as fast as possible is automaticallyset to the target parking space.

If the target parking space is detected, the processor 170 may calculatean area to which the vehicle is movable to perform parking, anddifferently design a route for automatic parking depending on an area ofthe movable area.

For example, referring to FIG. 30A, if when parallel parking isperformed, the length d10 of a target parking space and a front/rearspace of the target parking space is equal to or greater than apredetermined length, automatic parking may be performed along a forwardparallel parking route P1. In detail, if an empty space is a space inwhich at least two vehicles can be parked, the processor 170 may designa forward parallel parking route P1 and perform automatic parking alongthe forward parallel parking route P1.

On the contrary, referring to FIG. 30B, if another vehicle 510 exists ina target parking space and a front/rear space of the target parkingspace, automatic parking may be performed along a backward parallelparking route P2.

Also, the processor 170 may differently design a parking route dependingon whether there exists another vehicle 510 following the vehicle 700.

In detail, when another vehicle exists at the rear of the vehicle 700,the processor 170 may perform automatic parking along a forward parallelparking route. When no another vehicle exists at the rear of the vehicle700, the processor 170 may perform automatic parking along a backwardparallel route.

As described above, the parking assistance apparatus 100 provides theshoulder parking mode in which it automatically performs shoulderparallel parking in which drivers have difficulty, thereby improvinguser's convenience.

Referring to the FIG. 31, the above-described parking assistanceapparatus 100 may be included in the vehicle 700.

The vehicle 700 may include a communication unit 710, an input unit 720,a sensing unit 760, an output unit 740, a vehicle drive unit 750, amemory 730, an interface 780, a controller 770, a power supply unit 790,a parking assistance apparatus 100 and AVN apparatus 400. Here, amongthe units included in the parking assistance apparatus 100 and the unitsof the vehicle 700, the units having the same names are described asbeing included in the vehicle 700.

The communication unit 710 may include one or more modules which permitcommunication such as wireless communication between the vehicle and themobile terminal 600, between the vehicle and the external server 50 orbetween the vehicle and the other vehicle 510. Further, thecommunication unit 710 may include one or more modules which connect thevehicle to one or more networks.

The communication unit 710 includes a broadcast receiving module 711, awireless Internet module 712, a short-range communication module 713,and an optical communication module 715.

The broadcast reception module 711 receives a broadcast signal orbroadcast related information from an external broadcast managementserver through a broadcast channel. Here, the broadcast includes a radiobroadcast or a TV broadcast.

The wireless Internet module 712 refers to a wireless Internet accessmodule and may be provided inside or outside the vehicle. The wirelessInternet module 712 transmits and receives a wireless signal through acommunication network according to wireless Internet accesstechnologies.

Examples of such wireless Internet access technologies include WirelessLAN (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct, Digital LivingNetwork Alliance (DLNA), Wireless Broadband (WiBro), WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), High Speed DownlinkPacket Access (HSDPA), HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access), LongTerm Evolution (LTE), LTE-A (Long Term Evolution-Advanced), and thelike. The wireless Internet module 712 may transmit/receive dataaccording to one or more of such wireless Internet technologies, andother Internet technologies as well. For example, the wireless Internetmodule 712 may wirelessly exchange data with the external server 500.The wireless Internet module 712 may receive weather information androad traffic state information (e.g., transport protocol experts group(TPEG) information) from the external server 500.

The short-range communication module 713 is configured to facilitateshort-range communication. Such short-range communication may besupported using at least one of Bluetooth™, Radio FrequencyIdentification (RFID), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Ultra-Wideband(UWB), ZigBee, Near Field Communication (NFC), Wireless-Fidelity(Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct, Wireless USB (Wireless Universal Serial Bus), andthe like.

The short-range communication module 713 may form a wireless local areanetwork to perform short-range communication between the vehicle and atleast one external device. For example, the short-range communicationmodule 713 may wirelessly exchange data with the mobile terminal 600.The short-range communication module 713 may receive weather informationand road traffic state information (e.g., transport protocol expertsgroup (TPEG) information) from the mobile terminal 600. When a userrides in the vehicle, the mobile terminal 600 of the user and thevehicle may pair with each other automatically or by executing theapplication of the user.

A location information module 714 acquires the location of the vehicleand a representative example thereof includes a global positioningsystem (GPS) module. For example, the vehicle may acquire the locationof the vehicle using a signal received from a GPS satellite uponutilizing the GPS module.

The optical communication module 715 may include a light emitting unitand a light reception unit.

The light reception unit may convert a light signal into an electricsignal and receive information. The light reception unit may include aphotodiode (PD) for receiving light. The photodiode may covert lightinto an electric signal. For example, the light reception unit mayreceive information on a preceding vehicle through light emitted from alight source included in the preceding vehicle.

The light emitting unit may include at least one light emitting elementfor converting electrical signals into a light signal. Here, the lightemitting element may be a Light Emitting Diode (LED). The light emittingunit converts electrical signals into light signals to emit the light.For example, the light emitting unit may externally emit light viaflickering of the light emitting element corresponding to a prescribedfrequency. In some implementations, the light emitting unit may includean array of a plurality of light emitting elements. In someimplementations, the light emitting unit may be integrated with a lampprovided in the vehicle. For example, the light emitting unit may be atleast one selected from among a headlight, a taillight, a brake light, aturn signal, and a sidelight. For example, the optical communicationmodule 715 may exchange data with the other vehicle 510 via opticalcommunication.

The input unit 720 may include a driving operation unit 721, amonitoring unit 195, for example a camera, a microphone 723 and a userinput unit 724.

The driving operation unit 721 receives user input for driving of thevehicle (see FIG. 7). The driving operation unit 721 may include asteering input unit 721A, a shift input unit 721D, an acceleration inputunit 721C and a brake input unit 721B.

The steering input unit 721A is configured to receive user input withregard to the direction of travel of the vehicle. The steering inputunit 721A may include a steering wheel using rotation. In someimplementations, the steering input unit 721A may be configured as atouchscreen, a touch pad, or a button.

The shift input unit 721D is configured to receive input for selectingone of Park (P), Drive (D), Neutral (N), and Reverse (R) gears of thevehicle from the user. The shift input unit 721D may have a lever form.In some implementations, the shift input unit 721D may be configured asa touchscreen, a touch pad, or a button.

The acceleration input unit 721C is configured to receive input foracceleration of the vehicle from the user. The brake input unit 721B isconfigured to receive input for speed reduction of the vehicle from theuser. Each of the acceleration input unit 721C and the brake input unit721B may have a pedal form. In some implementations, the accelerationinput unit 721C or the brake input unit 721B may be configured as atouchscreen, a touch pad, or a button.

The camera 722 may include an image sensor and an image processingmodule. The camera 722 may process a still image or a moving imageobtained by the image sensor (e.g., CMOS or CCD). In addition, the imageprocessing module processes the still image or the moving image acquiredthrough the image sensor, extracts necessary information, and deliversthe extracted information to the controller 770. The vehicle may includethe camera 722 for capturing the front image of the vehicle or the imageof the vicinity of the vehicle and the monitoring unit 725 for capturingthe image of the space inside the vehicle.

The monitoring unit 725 may acquire an image of a passenger. Themonitoring unit 725 may acquire an image for biometric information ofthe passenger.

Although the monitoring unit 725 and the camera 722 are included in theinput unit 720 in FIG. 31, the camera 722 may be included in the parkingassistance apparatus 100 as described above.

The microphone 723 may process external sound signals into electricaldata. The processed data may be utilized in various ways according to afunction that the vehicle is performing. The microphone 723 may converta user voice command into electrical data. The converted electrical datamay be transmitted to the controller 770.

Meanwhile, in some implementations, a camera 722 or the microphone 723may not be included in the input unit 720 but may be included in thesensing unit 760.

The user input unit 724 is configured to receive information from theuser. When information is input via the user input unit 724, thecontroller 770 may control the operation of the vehicle to correspond tothe input information. The user input unit 724 may include a touch inputunit or a mechanical input unit. In some implementations, the user inputunit 724 may be located in a region of the steering wheel. In this case,the driver may operate the user input unit 724 with the fingers whilegripping the steering wheel.

The sensing unit 760 is configured to sense signals associated with, forexample, signals related to driving of the vehicle. To this end, thesensing unit 760 may include a collision sensor, a wheel sensor, a speedsensor, tilt sensor, a weight sensor, a heading sensor, a yaw sensor, agyro sensor, a position module, a vehicle forward/reverse sensor, abattery sensor, a fuel sensor, a tire sensor, a steering sensor based onrotation of the steering wheel, a vehicle interior temperature sensor, avehicle interior humidity sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a radar, aLidar, etc.

As such, the sensing unit 760 may acquire sensing signals with regardto, for example, vehicle collision information, vehicle travelingdirection information, vehicle location information (GPS information),vehicle angle information, vehicle speed information, vehicleacceleration information, vehicle tilt information, vehicleforward/reverse information, battery information, fuel information, tireinformation, vehicle lamp information, vehicle interior temperatureinformation, vehicle interior humidity information, steering wheelrotation angle information, etc.

Meanwhile, the sensing unit 760 may further include, for example, anaccelerator pedal sensor, a pressure sensor, an engine speed sensor, anAir Flow-rate Sensor (AFS), an Air Temperature Sensor (ATS), a WaterTemperature Sensor (WTS), a Throttle Position Sensor (TPS), a Top DeadCenter (TDC) sensor, and a Crank Angle Sensor (CAS).

The sensing unit 760 may include a biometric sensor. The biometricsensor senses and acquires biometric information of the passenger. Thebiometric information may include fingerprint information, iris-scaninformation, retina-scan information, hand geometry information, facialrecognition information, and voice recognition information. Thebiometric sensor may include a sensor for sensing biometric informationof the passenger. Here, the monitoring unit 725 and the microphone 723may operate as a sensor. The biometric sensor may acquire hand geometryinformation and facial recognition information through the monitoringunit 725.

The output unit 740 is configured to output information processed by thecontroller 770. The output unit 740 may include a display unit 741, asound output unit 742, and a haptic output unit 743.

The display unit 741 may display information processed by the controller770. For example, the display unit 741 may display vehicle associatedinformation. Here, the vehicle associated information may includevehicle control information for direct control of the vehicle or parkingassistance information for aiding in driving of the vehicle. Inaddition, the vehicle associated information may include vehicle stateinformation that indicates the current state of the vehicle or vehicletraveling information regarding traveling of the vehicle. The displayunit 741 may include at least one selected from among a Liquid CrystalDisplay (LCD), a Thin Film Transistor LCD (TFT LCD), an Organic LightEmitting Diode (OLED), a flexible display, a 3D display, and an e-inkdisplay.

The display unit 741 may configure an inter-layer structure with a touchsensor, or may be integrally formed with the touch sensor to implement atouchscreen. The touchscreen may function as the user input unit 724which provides an input interface between the vehicle and the user andalso function to provide an output interface between the vehicle and theuser. In this case, the display unit 741 may include a touch sensorwhich senses a touch to the display unit 741 so as to receive a controlcommand in a touch manner. When a touch is input to the display unit 741as described above, the touch sensor may sense the touch and thecontroller 770 may generate a control command corresponding to thetouch. Content input in a touch manner may be characters or numbers, ormay be, for example, instructions in various modes or menu items thatmay be designated.

Meanwhile, the display unit 741 may include a cluster to allow thedriver to check vehicle state information or vehicle travelinginformation while driving the vehicle. The cluster may be located on adashboard. In this case, the driver may check information displayed onthe cluster while looking forward.

Meanwhile, in some implementations, the display unit 741 may beimplemented as a head up display (HUD). When the display unit 741 isimplemented as a HUD, information may be output via a transparentdisplay provided at the windshield. Alternatively, the display unit 741may include a projector module to output information via an imageprojected onto the windshield.

The sound output unit 742 is configured to convert electrical signalsfrom the controller 170 into audio signals and to output the audiosignals. To this end, the sound output unit 742 may include, forexample, a speaker. The sound output unit 742 may output soundcorresponding to the operation of the user input unit 724.

The haptic output unit 743 is configured to generate tactile output. Forexample, the haptic output unit 743 may operate to vibrate a steeringwheel, a safety belt, or a seat so as to allow the user to recognize anoutput thereof.

The vehicle drive unit 750 may control the operation of various devicesof the vehicle. The vehicle drive unit 750 may include at least one of apower source drive unit 751, a steering drive unit 752, a brake driveunit 753, a lamp drive unit 754, an air conditioner drive unit 755, awindow drive unit 756, an airbag drive unit 757, a sunroof drive unit758, and a suspension drive unit 759.

The power source drive unit 751 may perform electronic control of apower source inside the vehicle.

For example, in the case where a fossil fuel based engine is a powersource, the power source drive unit 751 may perform electronic controlof the engine. As such, the power source drive unit 751 may control, forexample, an output torque of the engine. In the case where the powersource drive unit 751 is an engine, the power source drive unit 751 maycontrol the speed of the vehicle by controlling the output torque of theengine under the control of the controller 770.

In another example, in the case where an electric motor is a powersource, the power source drive unit 751 may perform control of themotor. As such, the power source drive unit 751 may control, forexample, the RPM and torque of the motor.

The steering drive unit 752 may perform electronic control of a steeringapparatus inside the vehicle. The steering drive unit 752 may change thedirection of travel of the vehicle. The brake drive unit 753 may performelectronic control of a brake apparatus inside the vehicle. For example,the brake drive unit 753 may reduce the speed of the vehicle bycontrolling the operation of brakes located at wheels. In anotherexample, the brake drive unit 753 may adjust the direction of travel ofthe vehicle leftward or rightward by differentiating the operation ofrespective brakes located at left and right wheels.

The lamp drive unit 754 may turn at least one lamp arranged inside andoutside the vehicle on or off. In addition, the lamp drive unit 754 maycontrol, for example, the intensity and direction of light of each lamp.For example, the lamp drive unit 754 may perform control of a turnsignal lamp or a brake lamp.

The air conditioner drive unit 755 may perform electronic control of anair conditioner inside the vehicle. For example, when the interiortemperature of the vehicle is high, the air conditioner drive unit 755may operate the air conditioner to supply cold air to the interior ofthe vehicle.

The window drive unit 756 may perform electronic control of a windowapparatus inside the vehicle. For example, the window drive unit 756 maycontrol opening or closing of left and right windows of the vehicle.

The airbag drive unit 757 may perform the electronic control of anairbag apparatus inside the vehicle. For example, the airbag drive unit757 may control an airbag to be deployed in a dangerous situation.

The sunroof drive unit 758 may perform electronic control of a sunroofapparatus inside the vehicle. For example, the sunroof drive unit 758may control opening or closing of a sunroof.

The suspension drive unit 759 may perform electronic control of asuspension apparatus inside the vehicle. For example, when a roadsurface is uneven, the suspension drive unit 759 may control thesuspension apparatus to reduce vibrations of the vehicle.

The memory 730 is electrically connected to the controller 770. Thememory 730 may store basic data of the unit, control data for operationcontrol of the unit and input/output data. The memory 730 may be variousstorage apparatuses, which are implemented in a hardware manner, such asa ROM, RAM, EPROM, flash drive and hard drive. The memory 730 may storea variety of data for overall operation of the vehicle, such as aprogram for processing or control of the controller 770.

The interface 780 may serve as a passage for various kinds of externaldevices that are connected to the vehicle. For example, the interface780 may have a port that is connectable to the mobile terminal 600 andmay be connected to the mobile terminal 600 via the port. In this case,the interface 780 may exchange data with the mobile terminal 600.

The interface 780 may serve as a passage for providing electric energyto the connected mobile terminal 600. When the mobile terminal 600 iselectrically connected to the interface 780, the interface 780 mayprovide electric energy supplied from the power supply unit 790 to themobile terminal 600 under control of the controller 770.

The controller 770 may control the overall operation of each unit insidethe vehicle. The controller 770 may be referred to as an ElectronicControl Unit (ECU).

The controller 770 may perform a function corresponding to the deliveredsignal according to delivery of a signal for executing the parkingassistance apparatus 100.

The controller 770 may be implemented in a hardware manner using atleast one selected from among Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal ProcessingDevices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field ProgrammableGate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers,microprocessors, and electric units for the implementation of otherfunctions.

The controller 770 may perform the role of the above-described processor170. That is, the processor 170 of the parking assistance apparatus 100may be directly set in the controller 770 of the vehicle. In such animplementation, the parking assistance apparatus 100 may be understoodas a combination of some components of the vehicle.

Alternatively, the controller 770 may control the components to transmitinformation requested by the processor 170.

The power supply unit 790 may supply power required to operate therespective components under the control of the controller 770. Inparticular, the power supply unit 790 may receive power from, forexample, a battery inside the vehicle.

The AVN apparatus 400 may exchange data with the controller 770. Thecontroller 770 may receive navigation information from the AVN apparatusor a separate navigation apparatus. Here, the navigation information mayinclude destination information, information on a route to thedestination, map information related to vehicle traveling and currentposition information of the vehicle.

According to the present disclosure, the parking assistance apparatuscan search a short-distance available parking space by acquiringinformation on a short-distance environment around the vehicle using ashort-distance sensor and, simultaneously, search a long-distanceavailable parking space by acquiring information on a long-distanceenvironment around the vehicle using a long-distance sensor, therebymore quickly detecting an available parking space in a wider area.

Moreover, the parking assistance apparatus can detect an availableparking space by simultaneously using a short-distance sensor based onimage detection and a long-distance sensor based on space detection, sothat it is possible to accurately provide a user with the availableparking space.

Also, the parking assistance apparatus can provide a GUI thateffectively provides the user with information on the detectedlong-distance/short-distance available parking spaces and easily setsthe parking assistance function.

In addition, the parking assistance apparatus can design a route suchthat automatic parking is safely performed on a selected long-distancetarget parking space, and perform an automatic operation along theroute, thereby providing the parking assistance function of safety andquickly performing automatic parking on a desired space.

The above described features, configurations, effects, and the like areincluded in at least one of the implementations of the presentdisclosure, and should not be limited to only one implementation. Inaddition, the features, configurations, effects, and the like asillustrated in each implementation may be implemented with regard toother implementations as they are combined with one another or modifiedby those skilled in the art. Thus, content related to these combinationsand modifications should be construed as including in the scope andspirit of the disclosure as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Further, although some implementations have been mainly described untilnow, they are just exemplary and do not limit the present disclosure.Thus, those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertainswill know that various modifications and applications which have notbeen exemplified may be carried out within a range which does notdeviate from the essential characteristics of the implementations. Forinstance, the constituent elements described in detail in the exemplaryimplementations can be modified to be carried out. Further, thedifferences related to such modifications and applications shall beconstrued to be included in the scope of the present disclosurespecified in the attached claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A parking assistance apparatus comprising: afirst sensor configured to sense a first environment corresponding to afirst distance around a vehicle; a second sensor configured to sense asecond environment corresponding to a second distance around thevehicle, the second distance being greater than the first distance; adisplay configured to display a graphic image; and at least oneprocessor configured to: acquire first information regarding the firstenvironment around the vehicle and second information regarding thesecond environment around the vehicle from the respective first sensorand the second sensor; detect an available parking space based on thefirst information regarding the first environment around the vehicle andbased on the second information regarding the second environment aroundthe vehicle; and based on an available parking space being detectedoutside of the first environment, control the display to displayinformation regarding the available parking space.
 2. The parkingassistance apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising amonitoring unit configured to monitor a driver, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: detect a physical motion of thedriver indicating an intent to park the vehicle; and based on detectingthe physical motion of the driver indicating the intent to park thevehicle and based on the vehicle travelling at a predetermined speed orless for a predetermined time or more, control the display to proposeexecuting a parking assistance mode.
 3. The parking assistance apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the second sensor comprises at least oneof a blind spot detection sensor configured to sense a quadrangular areaat a side rear of the vehicle or a stereo camera configured tophotograph a front or rear area of the vehicle and configured to sense adistance to an object, and wherein the first sensor comprises anaround-view monitoring camera configured to photograph surroundings ofthe vehicle.
 4. The parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based on anempty space having a predetermined size or more being detected outsideof the first environment, determine the empty space as the availableparking space.
 5. The parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the vehicle is a first vehicle, and the at least one processoris further configured to: based on a second vehicle being detected asexiting a space, determine, as the available parking space, the spacefrom which the second vehicle exits.
 6. The parking assistance apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a first vehicle, and the atleast one processor is further configured to: based on a second vehiclebeing detected as performing an exiting operation, determine a positionof the second vehicle as the available parking space, wherein the secondvehicle that is detected as performing the exiting operation indicates astate of at least one of a vehicle in which a second driver is riding, avehicle in which a brake lamp is turned on, or a vehicle from which anengine starting sound is generated.
 7. The parking assistance apparatusaccording to claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: calculate a size of the second vehicle; compare the sizeof the second vehicle with a size of the first vehicle; and based oncomparing the size of the second vehicle with the size of the firstvehicle, determine whether the first vehicle is to be parked.
 8. Theparking assistance apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to: determine a parking standbyposition around the detected available parking space; control the firstvehicle to move to the parking standby position while the second vehicleis exiting the space; and control the first vehicle to be on standby atthe parking standby position until a time at which the second vehiclecompletes exiting the space.
 9. The parking assistance apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: based on a first parking space being detected at a firstside of the vehicle and a second parking space being detected at asecond side of the vehicle, scan the first parking space at the firstside of the vehicle through the first sensor, and scan the secondparking space at the second side of the vehicle through the secondsensor.
 10. The parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1,wherein: the first sensor comprises an image sensor, the second sensorcomprises a distance-measuring sensor, and the at least one processor isfurther configured to: detect the available parking space through theimage sensor; and based on an obstacle in the available parking spacebeing detected through the distance-measuring sensor, determine that theavailable parking space is inappropriate for parking.
 11. The parkingassistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the first sensorcomprises an image sensor, the second sensor comprises a distancemeasuring sensor, and the at least one processor is further configuredto: based on a parking restriction sign being detected in the availableparking space through the image sensor after the available parking spaceis detected through the distance measuring sensor, determine that theavailable parking space is inappropriate for parking.
 12. The parkingassistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: based on the available parking spacebeing detected, provide, through the display, a graphic user interface(GUI) for performing parking in the available parking space.
 13. Theparking assistance apparatus according to claim 12, wherein providing,through the display, the graphic user interface (GUI) for performingparking in the available parking space comprises: displaying an image ata time when the available parking space is to be viewed and displaying agraphic image designating the available parking space.
 14. The parkingassistance apparatus according to claim 12, wherein providing, throughthe display, the graphic user interface (GUI) for performing parking inthe available parking space comprises: displaying a scroll GUI fordisplaying short-distance images that were previously photographedaccording to a user scroll input.
 15. The parking assistance apparatusaccording to claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: generate a virtual map by synthesizing informationregarding environments that were previously detected around the vehicle;and control the display to display the virtual map and a graphic imagerepresenting the available parking space on the virtual map.
 16. Theparking assistance apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the displaycomprises a windshield display configured to display graphic images on awindshield of the vehicle, and wherein the windshield display isconfigured to display an augmented reality view that designates theavailable parking space.
 17. The parking assistance apparatus accordingto claim 13, wherein the first sensor comprises an around-viewmonitoring camera configured to photograph surroundings of the vehicle,and the at least one processor is further configured to: based on adetection that the available parking space is photographed by thearound-view monitoring camera, control the display to display an imageof a view around the vehicle.
 18. The parking assistance apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to, based on a plurality of available parking spaces beingdetected: evaluate the plurality of available parking spaces through atleast one criteria; and automatically set one of the plurality ofavailable parking spaces as a target parking space based on anevaluation of the plurality of available parking spaces through the atleast one criteria.
 19. The parking assistance apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to control thedisplay to display a graphic image for guiding the vehicle to travel tothe available parking space.
 20. A vehicle comprising the parkingassistance apparatus according to claim 1.